Category: Mon Valley Miscellany, Pointless Digressions || By

It's Dyngus Day! Have you checked your dyngus today?

Wait! Stop! Before you disrobe, you need to know that the day after Easter is known as "smigus dyngus" in Poland and "pomlazka" in the Czech Republic.

Until I started working part-time at a radio station with a bunch of polka shows, I had never heard of this tradition, which is kind of surprising, considering the number of Poles and Czechs in the McKeesport area.

There is a "Dyngus Day Dance" at 6 p.m. tonight at the American Legion hall in Jeannette. North Huntingdon's Frank Powaski, who hosts one of Pittsburgh's most popular polka shows Sunday afternoons over WKHB (620), is the emcee, and Ray Jay and The Carousels will be performing.

Other than that, the Mon Valley is shockingly short on Dyngus Day activities --- which I find surprising, since we have so many dinguses around here. (Rimshot)

OK, enough with the jokes. According to the website Dyngus Day Buffalo, the word "dyngus" comes from the medieval Polish word "dingnus," which means something that's "worthy or suitable" as a ransom to protect a village. It also has its roots in the German word "dingen," which means "come to an agreement."

As with so many festivals, this one started as a pagan tradition. An article in the Polish American Journal explains:

The custom of pouring water is an ancient spring rite of cleansing, purification, and fertility. The same is true of the complimentary practice of switching with pussy willow branches, from which Dyngus Day derives its cognomen "Smigus" --- from "smiganie" --- switching.

The pagan Poles bickered with nature --- "dingen" --- by means of pouring water and switching with willows to make themselves "pure" and "worthy" for the coming year. Similar practices are still present in other non-Christian cultures during springtime.

In the 10th century, "Dyngus Day" was adopted by Polish Catholics as a religious holiday celebrating the baptism of Prince Mieszko I, the first Christian king of Poland.

"Tradition states that Prince Mieszko I along with his court were baptized on Easter Monday," Dyngus Day Buffalo says. "Thus, Dyngus Day and its rites of sprinkling with water have become a folk celebration in thanksgiving for the fact that the first king of Poland was baptized into Christianity, bringing Catholicism to Poland."

Naturally, the festival didn't stay a religious holiday.

"In more modern times, the tradition continued when farm boys in Poland wanted to attract notice from the girls of their choice," the website notes. "It was custom to throw water and hit the girls on their legs with twigs or pussy willows. Cologne was used instead of water by the more gallant lads. The ladies would reciprocate by throwing dishes and crockery and Tuesday was their day of revenge, imitating the same tactics."

Apparently, in Buffalo (also known as "The McKeesport of Western New York") they go all out on Dyngus Day. In fact, National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" reported on Dyngus Day in western New York two years ago.

Powaski tells me that many schools in Buffalo have Easter Monday as a holiday --- if they didn't, kids might not show up for class anyway.

(I did check some Buffalo-area school districts, and he's right. All of the ones I looked at --- West Seneca, Springville-Griffith Institute, Cheektowaga Central and Williamsville Central --- are all closed today for a "holiday," while Buffalo City Schools are on spring break all week.)

Poles in Chicago and northern Indiana also hold Dyngus Day parties and dances, where it's customary to squirt people with water or, if you're feeling really cheeky, to dump a bucket of water on their heads.

The Czech tradition is similar. Radio Prague reports:

Whipping brings good luck, wealth and rich harvest for the whole year. The strength from the rods is passed onto the person whipped. The whip or "pomlazka" is made from willow rods. The easiest variety is made from three rods, but it can be braided from 8, 12 or even 24 rods.

In Hungary, my countrymen call it "Dousing Monday" or "Ducking Monday":

Boys surprise the girls by dousing them thoroughly with buckets or bottles of water all the while reciting a little rhyme: "Good day, good day, my lily, I water you to keep you from withering," or "Water for your health, water for your home, water for your land, here's water, water!"

Formerly this practice was much rougher, for young men literally dragged girls to ponds, wells or streams at dawn and threw them in.

It was expected that the girls accept this all good-naturedly and reward their tormentors with decorated eggs, bread and a glass of brandy/wine --- or all three. The dousing was supposed to make of them good future wives with many children.

If that's what passes for foreplay in Hungary, it's a wonder the population hasn't died off completely.

The Hungarian women I know wouldn't like it if you tried throwing them into a creek at dawn.

In other words, it's a good way to lose your dingus.